BILL 45

An Act to Amend the Fish and Wildlife Act

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:

1 Subsection 1(1) of the Fish and Wildlife Act, chapter F-14.1 of the Acts of New Brunswick, 1980, is amended

(a)  by repealing the definition “licence” and substituting the following:

“licence” means any licence or permit issued under this Act or the regulations and includes any type of tag, validation sticker, certificate, permission, authorization or other document associated with the licence or permit; (permis)

(b)  in the definition “resident”

( i) in paragraph (f) of the English version by striking out “or” at the end of the paragraph;

( ii) in paragraph (g) by striking out the period at the end of the paragraph and substituting “; or”;

( iii) by adding after paragraph (g) the following :

(h)  a person who has his or her principal place of residence in the Province and is the holder of a valid New Brunswick driver’s licence or a valid photo identification card issued by the Minister of Public Safety and referred to in the regulations under the Financial Administration Act;

(c)  by repealing the definition “tag” and substituting the following:

“tag” means any type of tag associated with a licence and used for the purpose of tagging a species of fish or wildlife; (étiquette)

2 Section 56 of the Act is amended

(a)  in paragraph (1)(a) by striking out “tag provided with his licence,” and substituting “tag associated with his or her licence”;

(b)  in subsection (2) by striking out “tag provided with his licence,” and substituting “tag associated with his or her licence”;

(c)  in subsection (4) by striking out “tag provided with his licence” and substituting “tag associated with his or her licence”.

3 The heading “LICENCES AND PERMITS” preceding section 83 of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:

REGISTRATION, LICENCES AND PERMITS

4 The Act is amended by adding before section 83 the following:

Registration

82.1( 1) Before applying for a licence issued under this Act or the regulations and that is prescribed by regulation, a person shall register with the Minister in accordance with this section.

82.1( 2) Any information prescribed by regulation and required to be submitted for the purposes of registration shall be submitted to the Minister in the form and manner approved by the Minister.

82.1( 3) A registration is valid for the period prescribed by regulation and may be renewed in accordance with the regulations.

82.1( 4) The Minister shall provide every person who is registered under this section a unique identification number.

82.1( 5) A person who registers under this section shall update the information required to be submitted for the purposes of registration.

Disclosure of information

82.2 The Minister may disclose any of the information collected for the purpose of registration under section 82.1 if the disclosure is made in the course of verifying that information.

5 Section 84 of the Act is amended

(a)  in paragraph (a) by striking out “and” at the end of the paragraph;

(b)  by adding after paragraph (a) the following:

(a.1)  prescribe the duties to be carried out by a vendor; and

6 Section 84.1 of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:

84.1 A vendor may retain from the fees collected on behalf of the Minister under this Act or the regulations a commission for the discharge of his or her duties as a vendor in an amount determined by the Minister.

7 Section 85 of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:

85( 1) A vendor shall require

(a)   any person required to submit information for the purposes of registration under section 82.1 to submit that information to him or her before registering that person, and

(b)   with respect to a licence issued under this Act or the regulations, except for a licence prescribed for the purpose of subsection 82.1(1), any person applying for a licence to furnish proof of age, residency, identity and previous relevant training to him or her before issuing a licence.

85( 2) If, in the opinion of the Minister, a vendor issues a licence to an applicant to which the applicant is not entitled or submits false information on behalf of an applicant, the vendor

(a)  forfeits his or her privilege of vendorship, and

(b)  shall return to the Minister the amount of all fees collected on behalf of the Minister under this Act or the regulations, as well as all unsold licences and stubs of licences issued, if any.

8 Subsection 93(2) of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:

93( 2) Every person commits an offence who

(a)  obtains or attempts to obtain a licence to which he or she is not entitled,

(b)  has in his or her possession a licence to which he or she is not entitled, or

(c)  alters, falsifies or otherwise tampers with a licence.

9 Subsection 118(1) of the Act is amended by adding after paragraph (b.1) the following:

(b.2)  prescribing the licences for the purposes of subsection 82.1(1);

(b.3)  respecting registration under section 82.1, including the manner in which and the procedure and terms and conditions under which a person may be registered, the information required to be submitted for the purposes of registration, prescribing different classes of registrants, the provision of a unique identification number to those required to register and the requirements for the use of that number, as well as the renewal, suspension and cancellation of registrations;

10 This Act or any provision of it comes into force on a day or days to be fixed by proclamation.